IV. 



BLACKBALL AND SCAEF GAP. 



The other exit from Wastdale Head is by the road to 

 Scarf Gap, already referred to as having been found 



dangerous by inexperienced travellers. 

 B ™p M A rou £ h foot-road leads through the 



valley of Mosedale, between Kirkfell 

 and Yewbarrow, till it enters Gillertkwaite, at 

 the head of Ennerdale. Kirkfell and the stream 

 being kept on the right, the track passes between 

 Kirkfell and the Pillar. Coming down upon Gil- 

 lerthwaite, the view is beautiful. Great Gable 

 and Kirkfell close in the dale at its Head ; High 

 Stile and Red Pike are in front, and Gillerthwaite 

 is below, with its circular green level, dropped over 

 with wood, its farmhouse and stream, and the lake 

 at the other end. Behind, the wild valley of Mose- 



mist. There was nothing for the eye to see, — nothing for the. 

 memory to retain, — nothing above, around, beneath me (for 

 aught my closed sealed up senses revealed to me, or aught per- 

 haps that the dulled drenched fancy and feeling of the moment 

 suggested) nothing but mist, mist, illimitable mist, through 

 which ' even a hawk's keen eye ' might not pierce a score of 

 yards. Our Io Iritonphe was a poor affair indeed, and of briefest 

 duration. But the descent proved a more serious matter, and 

 had more of the excitement of incident about it ; for my guide 

 — though he had been thirty-four times on the summit of" Scaw- 

 fell — got puzzled and perturbed amid the surging vapours, and 

 my allowance of mind and muscle was approaching exhaustion 

 before we had fairly resolved our perplexities, and got once more 

 upon the rough but welcome descent into Langdale by Rosset 

 Ghyll."— J. G. 



